While the team has its final time out, St. Joseph's #35 Erick Langston reacts in the final seconds of play, during FCIAC boys basketball semifinals action against Central in Fairfield, Conn. on Tuesday February 26, 2013. less

While the team has its final time out, St. Joseph's #35 Erick Langston reacts in the final seconds of play, during FCIAC boys basketball semifinals action against Central in Fairfield, Conn. on Tuesday February ... more

Tyler Ancrum and the Hilltoppers put an exclamation point on their grueling stretch of seven games in 12 days, upsetting top-seeded St. Joseph 70-67 Tuesday night in the FCIAC semifinals at Fairfield Warde.

The win moves No. 4 Central, which has won all seven of those games, into Thursday night's championship game against second-seeded Trinity Catholic. The Hilltoppers won their only league title in 2010.

"The final is going to be a show," said Ancrum, who scored a game-high 28 points.

Due to the blizzard that hit Bridgeport on Feb. 8, the Hilltoppers have barely practiced, let alone found an open gym -- not that it's mattered much.

"The guys said we'd rather play, than go through your coaching in practice," Central coach Barry McLeod said. "When you look at it that way, one way or another (they're) right."

This one was a back-and-forth game for its duration, much like the regular season meeting on Feb. 7 won by the Cadets 85-81.

St. Joseph, which saw its 14-game winning streak end, built an early nine-point advantage at the start of the second quarter. Central roared right back, leading 37-34 at the half, thanks mainly to the scoring punch of ShaQuan Bretoux (19 points).

"When he was getting into the lane we saw they couldn't stop him, so we were almost going with him exclusively," said McLeod, noting his surprise how well his team played with talented sophomore Marcus Blackwell pinned to the bench in foul trouble.

Neither team led by more than five points in the third. A 3-pointer by St. Joseph's Jonathan Dzurenda with 5:35 left in the fourth tied it at 56-56, but from that point Central (18-4) would never trail again as Cadets (20-2) went nearly five minutes without another field goal.

On the next possession Ancrum found Antoin Pettway under the basket and his layup put the Hilltoppers up for good.

"He's able to see people," St. Joseph coach Chris Watts said of Ancrum. "Any time you're a point guard and you can see people on the floor, you're effective. When you see two people run at you, now you can make it very easy for a teammate to score and he does a good job with that."

The game then took a dramatic turn in a span of 37 seconds late in the fourth when St. Joseph's leading scorer, Quincy McKnight, drew three fouls -- including a technical -- fouling out with 2:53 to go. McKnight, who led the Cadets with 22 points, drew a blocking foul trying to stop an Ancrum drive and slapped his hands onto the ground in frustration, earning the technical.

Ancrum went 2-for-4 from the line, putting the Hilltoppers ahead 62-56.

"I'm emotional about the game," McKnight said. "If I don't get a charge call and I'm not talking to the ref, I don't see how they can call a tech for slapping the floor? ... I'm not trying to show any of the refs up and the FCIAC or anything. His explanation was I was trying to show them up. The basketball went (Central's) way this time."

Seconds later McKnight bumped Ancrum near the sideline for his fifth foul.

"When we fouled him out, we knew we had it," said Ancrum, a childhood friend of McKnight's.

Another 3-pointer by Dzurenda -- this one with 3.3 seconds left -- got St. Joseph to within 68-67. The Hilltoppers managed to inbound it to Orhan Cecunjanin without incident and he made both free throws.

A last-second heave by Rich Kelly was off-target for St. Joseph, allowing Central its second FCIAC playoff upset of the Cadets in as many years.

St. Joseph, which lost in the quarterfinals to Central last season before going on to win its second straight Class LL title, hopes history repeats itself.

"I'm not going to be like other coaches and say we just didn't shoot well or didn't play defense well," Watts said.

"There's been coaches around the league who've played us and come up with some excuses. I'm not going to be that guy with excuses. We came out tonight and they were better in spots. The reality of it is they were better in more spots and that's why they won the game."